Ratify

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɹætɪfaɪ/

Definitions

1. To formally approve or confirm a decision, agreement, or treaty by official consent
2. To give official sanction or validation to a document or plan through formal approval
3. To officially confirm or endorse an agreement or action by authorized consent

Etymology: Ratify is built from Latin "ratus," meaning "reckoned" or "considered," the past participle of "reri," to reckon or judge. The Latin root carries the sense of a settled judgment: something once reckoned to be valid stays valid. The Latin verb that grew from it, "ratificare," combined "ratus" with "facere," to make, so the literal sense was "to make valid" or "to make fixed by judgment." The word reached English by a route through French. Medieval Latin "ratificare" passed into Old French as "ratifier," and Middle English took it up as "ratifien," which is where the modern English form begins. The shape of the word has barely changed since, even as the sense has narrowed from general reckoning to the formal confirmation of treaties, laws, and agreements.

Synonyms: approve, confirm, validate, endorse

Antonyms: revoke, annul, invalidate